Jared Kushner is an observant Jew. On Saturday, Sept. 5, he sat in the Kremlin for more than three hours and stayed for dinner with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That was the Sabbath. It was also the night Selichot begins, the penitential prayers Ashkenazi Jews recite in the week before Rosh Hashanah.

Jewish law permits this. The principle is pikuach nefesh: Saving a life overrides the Sabbath. Ending a war qualifies. No rabbi would object.